Effect of β-Cyclodextrin Nanoparticle on Biosynthesis of Ocimum basilicum L. Monoterpenes, Sesquiterpenes in a Concentration-Dependent Behavior

Engineered nanoparticles can alter the metabolism pathways and the profiling of metabolites in plants. In this study, we prepared the beta-cyclodextrin nanoparticles (beta-CDNPs) and characterized the physical and chemical structure of nanoparticles by the transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and dynamic light scattering (DLS), and zeta potential. Then, we provided the different concentrations of beta-CDNPs, including 0, 10, 50, 100 mg/L to treat the aerial parts of basil) Ocimum basilicum c.v. Keshkeni luvelou (and evaluated the profiling of essential oils by GC-MS analysis responding to beta-CDNPs. The concentration of volatile compounds in the aerial parts of basil was significantly different when exposed to beta-CDNPs compared to the control. Our findings indicated that the concentration of 50 ppm beta-CDNPS led to a significant increase of monoterpenes (13.77%) and sesquiterpenes (0.67%) when compared to the control. Furthermore, we investigated the expression of four key genes involved in the biosynthesis pathway of terpenoids under the different concentrations of beta-CDNPs. Compared to control, the expression of linalool synthase, geraniol synthase, myrcene synthase, and cadinene synthase significantly increased in 50 ppm beta-CDNPs, although the expression pattern of genes changed in a concentration-dependent manner. The nanoparticles accumulate biologically active compounds which increase plant resistance. Inducer elicitor type and effective concentration, in addition to genomics, affected the essence of Ocimum basilicum grown in this study and has caused in some concentrations more essence is produced with the expression of relevant gene in addition to increasing essence amount due to confinement in beta-cyclodextrin nanoparticles. Therefore, beta-CDNPS can be applied as an elicitor to induce essential oils in basil and increase the content of volatiles compounds for food and drug consumption.